Let me answer your question with a question: Did AGTC highlight the distinction in animal models between XLRS and XLRP before or after the XLRS failure?
That's a good question and I don't know the answer. Just assuming the answer is probably after. FWIW, here is the latest slide deck where they go through some of the differences: http://ir.agtc.com/static-files/836dcb4c-0374-4873-a7e2-3c5e750458fb . In particular, slide 17 notes pre-clinical XLRS data was in mouse model whereas pre-clinical XLRP data is in dog model. They also note that the only similarity between the XLRP and XLRS programs are the capsid (obviously if capsid was the issue in XLRS then that's a problem!).
I will say one thing that really is a turn off for me is the lack of insider ownership. The CEO and CMO each barely own over 20K shares. And the CSO owns no shares. You'd think they would own a lot more shares if they believed the story.